the busy Charlotte airport. Ray LaHood will be a tough act to follow, because Secretary LaHood was a former member of the House of Representatives and has a fine reputation as a champion schmoozer to convince Con- gress of the worth of various projects. It is unclear how much difficulty Mr. Foxx will have in being confirmed. Thanks to David Harris for the news.
Montréal: LRT on the Champlain Bridge By the year 2021 it is expected there will be light rail transit on the new Champlain Bridge. The Parti Québecois will invest $28 million in planning and developing a light rail line when the new Champlain Bridge is built. The essence of the idea is an electric railway line linking South Shore (of the St. Lawrence River) to the city of Montréal. The Champlain Bridge is the busiest of all Canadian spans. There is a bus lane on the present bridge, but it has maxed out its ca- pacity. The bridge at the present time hosts 160,000 crossings per day; about 20,000 pa- trons use the bus service. Rail service in place of the buses is expected to move 100,000 pas- sengers per day to and from Montréal. The cost of replacing the bridge is expected to be from C$3 billion to C$5 billion.
The bridge is owned and operated by the Canadian Federal Government. Of course there are naysayers, but it appears that the Province of Québec is working with the fed- eral government in Ottawa to assure the in- clusion of light rail on the new bridge. Thanks to David Harris for the good news.
The Media Trolley Line at 100 The Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. was popularly known as Red Arrow Lines. Originally known as the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Co., Red Arrow op- erated an exemplary transit service employ- ing electric cars on four major rail services, as well as a network of buses. Maintenance standards were very high and the service and its on-time performance were enviable. The year 2013 marks the centennial of the Red Arrow electric car line to Media. Con- struction of the Media car line began in May of 1912. Revenue service began in April 1913; it was the last of the four Red Arrow suburban electric routes to be built and to- day it is SEPTA Route 101. In celebration of the birthday, SEPTA wrapped one of the cars serving the Media line to look like the cars that provided service in 1913 and the centennial car began its year of running in April 2013.
I recall the great days of Red Arrow trol- ley operations during World War II. All four lines (West Chester, Ardmore, Sharon Hill and Media) ran on 15-minute headways dur- ing weekdays. Trippers were plentiful dur- ing the war and service and equipment were kept in top-notch condition. So congratula- tions to the Media line and SEPTA and thanks for noting the 100th anniversary of an important part of the transportation structure of suburban Philadelphia. Thanks to Peter Perreault for the information.
Light Rail Expansion
Denver has an aggressive approach to the expansion of rail service. The local moniker is “Fastracks.” In April 2013 the light rail system was expanded by 12 miles when the West Line went into operation. There are eleven new stations along the line and there are six park-and-rides. During the rush hour,
the light rail trains operate on a 7.5 minute headway. The projected use of this expansion is 20,000 to 25,000 riders each weekday. Salt Lake City developed light rail transit as a result of the Winter Olympics held there nearly a decade ago. TRAX is the Salt Lake City light rail service and it got a six-mile boost on April 13, 2013, when a new line was opened to Salt Lake City International Air- port. There are six stations along the line and the journey time from downtown to the airport is 20 minutes. The service on the new line begins at the Arena Station in down- town and follows North Temple Street on its way to the airport. The new line cost $235 million and is expected to move 4600 passen- gers per day during the opening year. Rider- ship is projected to be 10,000 daily by 2015 and 14,000 daily by 2030. Thanks to Bud Vickery and John A. Lee for the information.
Flashes
There are PCC streetcars in the desert near the EL PASO International Airport. The cars were originally used in San Diego and after World War II, the cars were sold to El Paso. In the Texas city, the cars were used in the final years of rail service on an interna- tional route that crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico. The vintage cars are in sad shape and are now for sale despite the move of El Paso to restore streetcars to downtown. There is a debate over whether it would be more cost effective to restore the vintage PCCs or purchase reproductions. The Texas Department of Transportation contends that it would cost $2.2 million each to re- store the old cars and half that to purchase replicas. Let’s wait and see what happens. Many thanks to Frank Brooks, Jr. for the in- teresting news. Part of the really bad news about Hurri- cane Sandy was that water from the storm surge flooded subway and Amtrak tunnels. The idea of a balloon-like TUNNEL PLUG has been initiated by engineers at West Vir- ginia University. The idea has been tested successfully many times in a mockup of a subway tunnel. The balloon is stored along the tunnel wall and can remotely released into the tunnel and an electric air pump in- flates the balloon so that it fills the tunnel completely. The challenge is to put together the fabric of the balloon plug so that it is sturdy enough to withstand the immense pressure of floodwaters. It is estimated the plugs would cost about $400,000 each at the beginning of use. The primary material in the three layered test item is called vectren. There was some concern that rats in a subway tunnel might eat it, but tests show that is not the case. Thanks to Harry Ross for the information. The ATLANTA BELTLINE project will take advantage of the existing right of way of the railroad belt line around the Georgia city. The rail line was allowed to fall into dis- use and disrepair. Developing the right of way for light rail, parks and other construc- tive uses has caught on and it is expected the project will be completed by 2031. Thanks to Ferdinand A. Oehler, Jr. for the in- formation.
BOSTON’S RED LINE rapid transit service will not be able to use the Longfellow Bridge fully for at least 25 weekends. Major reconstruction of the bridge is underway this summer. Highway lanes will be tem- porarily closed and rails will be put down in the highway lanes. Road and rail traffic will be shifted about during the project.
From Then to Now, To There and Back
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